Im mid way through skull castle and im up to the part were u have to open the treasure chest to get the relic for the lich so he will give u the deth staff, but i dont have a high enough traps and locks skill to open the chest. if u have any way to help at all besides going back to brinloch roon to get lock pics plz tell me thanx Michael

You'd better try the lockpicks. Another possibility is your fist. If you have somebody vith high STR (preferable STR 24) then you can try saving the game and forcing the chest to open. But, IMO, the lockpicks are better idea.

Another possibility is giving up the staff temporarily. The staff is useful in three situations:
a) Opening the door to Mada Mabig. The staff is madatory here.
b) Getting into the Anephas Shrine. If you can cast Vanish, Create Portal, and Teleport then you need not the staff.
c) Fighting Cet. But this is far away.

Therefore, if you need not to finish the Mada Mabig quest quickly then let the staff be, improve your lockpicking abilities (or the Sorcery skill) and return later.

Sometimes, if you are lucky, Mada Mabbig will be partially visible through the door. You can then kill her with storm spells thus completing Sabastio's quest. However, you cannot get to the scroll of banishing to complete Adrianna's quest.

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Moderation is good so long as it is not exaggerated!

When you try to disarm, does the lock show up as easy, moderate, difficult, or intricate?

If it's moderate to difficult, you can try to open it multiple times. You'll notice when you pick the lock that of the nine "tumblers", some are real and some are dummies. The object of picking the lock is to do all the real ones.

So one thing you can do is to keep track of which ones are real and which are dummies. Then keep trying to pick the lock. If your lockpicker starts with a dummy tumbler, cancel the lockpick and try again. You won't always complete it, but you will have more time since you're not wasting it on the dummies.

Failing that, it's always a good idea to keep a few lockpicks around. It's not fun to say that now, but the next time you get back into town, you can stock up.